And while the Reaper figures are fantastic in the detail and theming, plastic is so much lighter, especially for traveling, (although I don't know what plastic costs relative to pewter).

I seem to recall this coming up before, but the short version is that cost-per-casting for plastic is much lower in terms of materials and labor, but the overhead is dramatically higher (getting your first mold made) than it is for pewter minis. It represents a major investment to add a new miniature to a line of plastic minis (and working out a contract with a factory in China), so you need to be assured of selling a LOT of those cheap plastic minis in order to break even on your overhead.

By comparison, the technology for casting pewter minis with rubber molds is such that I can do it in my garage (and have done so), and it takes a lot less time to get rolling once you've made the "masters" for a new mold.
The trouble is that pewter costs more, is heavier, is more trouble to work with, and the rubber molds have a far, far shorter life span than the dies used for plastic figures -- so the per-figure cost is necessarily higher, and the profit margin stays low even if you sell lots and lots of the figure.

If you KNOW you're going to sell gobs and gobs of a particular figure, then, plastic is the way to go. But until then, pewter is the safer investment for a maker of miniatures catering to a niche hobby market._________________

Having just got back into miniatures to support my Deadlands game and knowing which direction I want to go how about a series of mini's aimed to support 'The Flood'. That way anyone of a mind would be able to collect such whilst knowing that they cover a good selection of the game as well.

I don't wish to provide a list and introduce a catalogue of spoilers but think about the major characters/plot points/encounters and archetypes and you should be on the right path.